


Not Even The Rain

by LinksLipsSinkShips



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Caught in the Rain, M/M, Middle School, cape fear river
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-31 05:48:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15113087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinksLipsSinkShips/pseuds/LinksLipsSinkShips
Summary: When Rhett and Link are fishing, they're caught in a sudden rainstorm. In a small shelter, both of them start to notice the fact that their friendship is in new territory, and neither one is sure how to handle it.





	Not Even The Rain

**Author's Note:**

> nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands - e.e. cummings

It wasn’t supposed to rain that day.

Link would know. He always checked the weather forecast before they went out to the river. For one, he had an interest in meteorology. Rhett knew it was because storms kind of freaked him out, and if Link knew they were coming, he’d feel a lot better, but Link loved to insist it seemed like a fun way to be on TV. Rhett didn’t push him otherwise.

But Link had watched the weather report, checked his favorite stations, and nobody had said anything about rain. It was supposed to be a sunny day, perfect for fishing and swimming, nice and warm.

When the sky opened up over them, they were completely unprepared. It started with just a couple of drops, enough that at first Rhett thought a bird in the tree branch above them had done it’s business or something. But without much warning, other than that couple of drops trickling down from the trees above, the sky opened with a vengeance, pouring on them and soaking them to the bone.

Rhett grabbed their fishing poles, tossing them at the base of a tree out of the rain, then tugging at Link’s arm. “This way,” he insisted. Link followed, of course, something he would have done even without Rhett’s grip on his arm.

They knew the path well enough that they could have gone there in their sleep, but Link wracked his brain and couldn’t think of a single place for adequate shelter from the downpour. Rhett, though, remembered one thing, well off the path, and wound his way through the trees that only partially shielded them. The rain was coming down too hard for the trees to make the difference they should have, the protection that almost always kept them out there in a drizzle.

“Come here,” Rhett insisted, pushing Link into a small opening between two rocks. They were balanced against each other, large and unmoving, in a way that formed almost a tent shape above their heads. It was barely big enough for the two of them, because even though they were only in middle school, Rhett was growing like a weed.

Link leaned against one of the rocks, stripping his shirt off and wringing it out. It was soaking, and that did little to make it better at all. A shiver rushed over him, and he shook gently as he pulled his still-wet tee shirt back over his head. The rain was cold, despite the warm day, and he struggled to get warm enough.

“The sticks are probably too wet for me to try to make a fire,” Rhett noted, thinking of ways to make his best friend warm.

“Yeah, they’re all soaked. We’re soaked. Maybe we should just grab our bikes and go home,” Link pouted. He had been looking forward to a Saturday spent relaxing by the water, and now an entirely different form of water had ruined that for them.

“I think it’s just a quick rain,” Rhett said. “It’ll probably be over before we even get home. Let’s wait it out, man,” he encouraged.

“I’m cold,” Link admitted. “I want to go get dry clothes on and stuff.” Another shiver shook his body, more violently this time, and Rhett worried. He was torn-- getting Link in the rain might just make him colder, and the thought of missing out on their plans for the day wasn’t appealing, either. But his best friend was shivering, freezing even in summer, and it was the last thing Rhett wanted.

“Here,” Rhett said, wrapping an arm around Link and pulling him close.

“What are you doin’, man?” Link tried to shrug Rhett’s arm off of him, to distance them. It wasn’t because the warmth wasn’t nice, and it wasn’t because he didn’t appreciate his friend warming him up. It was all because of the strange stirrings he’d felt lately, the late-night thoughts about his best friend and the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach when he’d think about Rhett.

“You’re cold,” Rhett said, keeping his arm in place and wrapping his other one around Link, pulling him close. “Can’t have you gettin’ sick on me.”

Link tugged away at first, trying hard to pull back from Rhett’s grip, but soon he settled into it, resting his head on Rhett’s shoulder and closing his eyes tightly. He tried not to think about it, about the fact that Rhett was holding onto him for dear life, like if he let go, Link might catch a cold that instant.

Rhett’s hand smoothed over his back, and Link realized how strongly he could smell Rhett when they were that close. Just under the petrichor and the smell of Rhett’s wet shirt, he could just smell  _ Rhett _ , and it made him uncomfortable, gave him the same knot in his stomach he felt whenever he thought of his best friend in ways he knew he shouldn’t.

Rhett held Link close, his arms staying tightly around Link, and soon, Link let his arms find their way around Rhett, too, holding him back. Rhett didn’t admit it, but he was cold, too, the goosebumps on his arms raising the hairs. But the goosebumps on his arms, the ones from cold, were no match for the ones that raised on the back of his neck when Link wrapped his arms around him. Those were very different, ones that called out to his desire to be closer to Link.

They’d been best friends for ages, and now, as they both grew into young men and their voices lowered, their bodies took them into a new stage of life, Rhett couldn’t help but have moments where his best friend came to mind at the most inconvenient moments. And now, being this close to him, it was impossible not to think of those things, too.

Rhett pulled back a little bit, looking into his friend’s big blue eyes. Part of him prayed for the courage to lean in, close the distance between them, and share his first-ever kiss with the person he’d shared a lot of firsts with. The other part of him thought maybe, just maybe, Link would freak out, push him away, and never speak to him again.

Link cleared his throat, parting his lips slightly, as if in invitation. His tongue flicked out and ran over his lower lip, and he lifted up on his toes just a little bit. If Rhett didn’t know any better, he’d think that Link wanted to kiss him, too. Link had never kissed anyone before. If he had, he would have told Rhett. And right here, in the middle of the rain, Rhett thought maybe they’d found the perfect way to share their first kisses with each other.

But just as Rhett leaned in, just as he reached up to brush a stray hair that had stuck to Link’s forehead from rainwater, the rain slowed and stopped as quickly as it had started.

“Thanks for finding this place, Rhett,” Link said, so quietly that, had it still been raining, Rhett might not have heard.

“It’s no big deal, bo,” Rhett said back, his voice catching in his throat.

“We should get back to fishing,” Link said, his eyes flashing toward the ground as he lowered himself from his toes, effectively ending the moment that almost happened between them.

“Yeah, we should,” Rhett agreed, stepping out of the relative safety of the rock structure they’d found. He was disappointed. Once the opening was there, he knew they were on the same page, but his fear of taking that moment, giving in, ended up costing him the moment altogether.

He walked back toward his fishing pole, picking Link’s up and handing it to him, then slumping on the ground. He tried not to let his sadness over the lost moment show. After all, they weren’t supposed to be having their first kiss with each other. They were meant to have that kiss with girls, maybe even with their high school sweethearts or something.

“Hey, Rhett?” Link asked, sitting down next to him and scooting a little closer than he was earlier, his shorts soaking up the moisture from the wet ground. They’d be mud-stained later, but his mom was used to that by now. She was a pro at getting out stains like that. Link turned to look at his best friend, bright eyes blinking in the sunlight that was now overhead again.

“Yeah?” Rhett asked, still looking straight ahead at the water, blinking away a tear that he didn’t want to fall.

Without any warning, and so softly Rhett thought he might have imagined it, Link leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek, then backed up and scooted a few more inches away from Rhett. “Thanks,” Link said again, and this time, Rhett was pretty sure he wasn’t thanking him for finding the rock shelter.


End file.
